Contests & Promotions

Hello everyone, I’m back for the second installation in my series of draft articles. This time, we’ll be talking about white in Mirrodin. White is one of the strongest colors in Mirrodin, and with good reasons too. Looking at the commons in white (73.4% of the card pool), we see some very strong cards and a lot of synergy with equipment. With cards such as Taj-Nar Swordsmith, and Auriok Bladewarden

in the uncommon slots, it’s best to draft a lot of equipment to go along with the white creatures that you have. Drafting white, make sure not only to draft those equipments, but also any good removals that you see, because the problem in white is not creatures, but removal. Looking at the common slot, we see Arrest

as the only good removal spell there it. So when you’re making that hard choice of whether to take another Bone Splitter or that Altar’s Light, the light’s usually a better choice. (Now of course, if you see Solar Tide

equipped with a Bone Splitter is not dealt immediately, then your opponent will be in a world of pain). Trust me, it feels a lot better to have a 5/3 flying creature that sails over for damage each turn than to have your Den-Guard get blocked by random Tel-Jilad Exile

is better for several reasons, by no mean am I saying that the Den-Guard is not good. It has a couple of advantages also. One of the big advantages of the Den-Guard is that it comes out on turn two, and is able to attack on turn three equipped with a Bone Splitter. That’s pretty hard to come back from, as nobody likes to be attacked by 4/4 creatures. Now I’m sure we’ve all heard about how good this guy is with Vulshok Gauntlets

. This piece of equipment on the Den-Guard makes it quite a headache for your opponent to block correctly. Overall, this is one great creature, draft it if you can. (Just make sure you have some equipment available)

: Talk about all the good creatures in white, here’s another one of them. I’m not sure if I should rate this below the Den-Guard or not, as this will always be a solid and good creature. The fact that he’s not dispatched by either Electrostatic Bolt

: Don’t be surprised that it’s rated so high, it probably should have been higher. This card is simply insane, it can be used at all times throughout the game, and will always do something incredible, whether that’s allowing your creatures to attack two turns in a row, or buying you some time to find that answer you need is your choice. This will also help you win races that seemed impossible at the beginning. With the lack of good creatures in Mirrodin, (The lack of creatures in general also) shutting down two of your opponents best creatures for two turns will cripple them a lot. Now, don’t be shy, try this card out, you won’t regret it.

: This guy often functions like a master decoy or a trap runner. It’ll stop your opponents best artifact creature from attacking; rarely will it do anything else. What different this little guy from master decoy is the casting cost. Having a casting of one is very important, as there are almost no good one drops. On the second turn, you would much rather play a Myr or a Den-Guard. Don’t be afraid to take this early.

), so the extra mana is often not that important. But by all means, this is a great card, especially since you’ll be drafting a lot of equipment for your white deck. So it won’t become useless towards the mid or late game.

: Another good three drops for white. The problem with him is that he’s very defensive. (Which, of course, makes him a great defensive creature) White really doesn’t want to be on the defense, it wants to be able to attack, and attack again. He’s always a good creature though, and equipment can make any creature offensive. Take him if there isn’t something better.

: This card is great. While you should never take this over any one of the creatures mentioned above, this is a good situational removal, and will save your best guy from being terrored or shattered, or whatever. This can also be used to remove those enchantments on your creature that you can’t deal with. (Opposing Arrest

: I don’t like this card that much, while instant speed creatures are always good, they’re just too small. If you have a lot of equipment, this card might trade for two creatures, but it’s more likely that you’ll use these two tokens to block. It’s a solid card though, and don’t be afraid to take it.

: This is a pretty expensive card, but it’s a solid one. 3/3 creatures are never bad. In an environment where there aren’t a lot of big creatures, this is even better. The first strike ability will rarely be used, most of the time; the threat of using it is enough. Attack with this creature and leave two mana open, it has the same effect as if it had first strike. (At least the same effect concerning your opponent’s blocking strategy) Equipment is always nice on it, as it will make the treat of the first strike ability a greater one. This is a bit slow for white though.

: Strangely enough, this card is playable. When one looks at this, the first impression is often that it’s just another bad life gain card. But if you looked at closely, this can be used as removal, although it’s extremely situational. It will also help you win those races.

: This card is pretty pointless in white unless you have multiple Myr enforcers. I really don’t like to play with the artifact land without a good reason, as it makes your mana base shaky against artifact removal. Draft this higher if you have multiple affinity spells.